Julien St. Croix

Julien St. Croix (23 May 1819-10 June 1900) was a Mexican cavalry officer who fought in the Mexican-American War and the Guatemalan War of Independence.

Biography
Julien St. Croix was born in Jalisco, Mexico, to a Cajun family that emigrated from Acadia during the expulsion of the French Canadians in 1757. St. Croix enlisted in the Mexican Cavalry at the age of 20 and studied at a school for the army at Mexico City, and graduated top of his class in 1841. Breveted a Lieutenant, he was sent to command a dragoon unit on the US-Mexican border in the Province of Nuevo Paraiso.

In 1846, the Americans invaded Nuevo Paraiso, capturing the cities of Armadillo and Cholla Springs, which were both turned into settler outposts. The small Mexican force was evicted by the militia of the nearby New Elizabeth County, and St. Croix negotiated the withdrawal of Mexican troops from Hennigan's Stead and New Elizabeth if Cholla Springs remained under Mexican control. A ceasefire was agreed but broke down after an unwarranted Mexican cavalry raid, and St. Croix was forced to retreat over the Rio Grande into the southern portion of Nuevo Paraiso.

In the aftermath of the war, St. Croix resumed his military career and was promoted to General by the Mexican Empire when they took power in 1862. He fought in the Guatemalan War of Independence against Guatemalan rebels, and the Franco-Mexican War as a French general. After the war he left for France as the pro-French politicians were killed or imprisoned for treason, and he died in Mayenne in 1900.